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Online Auction at the Brigham Galleries

Two of my landscape paintings are in an online action at the Brigham Galleries. You can find their site here. They are listed in the Contemporary Realism auction with the lot names: 2530 and 2531.

Both of these paintings are from a series of lucanian landscapes that I have been working on over the past couple of years. When people generally think of Italian landscapes, Tuscany, Umbria, Venice and Rome come to mind. However southern Italy has so much to offer. It is definitely more rustic and expansive. What I hope to do with my current series is share previously unknown subjects with a non-meridionale (non-southern italian) audience. These two pictures measure 60cm x 100cm. Here are the images:

Temple of Hera at Metaponto

A good part of Southern Italy was at one point part of Magna Grecia, or greater greece. It was a series of greek colonies that were established between the VIII and VII centuries BC. They were concentrated on the coasts as the greeks were primarily interested in trade. Metaponto was a particularly important center as it was situated between two rivers, the Basento and the Bradanico. The remains of the temple above date to somewhere around the VI to the V century BC. The exact dedication of the temple is unsure. It is called the temple of Hera because of some female statues recovered near the site. The remains of the doric peristyle are fantastic. What impressed me is how the temple is oriented exactly the summer solstice. You can see that the end columns on the left are in full light and the rest are in shadow. The remains of an altar are in the center. There are plenty of anecdotes that go along with this picture. Landscape painting in Italy is always an adventure. I will dedicate a post to this picture at a later date.

San Piero Caveoso, Matera

The second painting in the auction is a view I did the of church of San Piero Caveoso in Matera. Caveoso refers to a particular section of the Sassi of Matera. The town is built into the side of the ravine. It was such a dramatic view with the church (which dates from the XVII century) perched on the very edge. The rocky outcropping to the right is another rupestre church, Madonna d’Idris. Idris means water in the old Materan dialect. There was no running water in Matera until the time of Mussolini(30s). Drinking water was collected from rain directed to cisterns with a very elaborate channel system. Water for general domestic purposes was carried up daily from the river at the bottom of the ravine via donkey.

I found it striking how harmonious the architecture fit in with the surroundings.